Effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers on yields and nitrate accumulation of vegetables

Nuisance free vegetable production is a focal topic that has drawn great attention from the Chinese government and the community recently. A great number of people take it for granted that only using organic fertilizers without chemical fertilizers is able to produce the nuisance free vegetables. Therefore, it need more research from different directions to provide scientific evidence to clarify this conception. Radish and garlic were used as the target vegetables to study the (effects) of organic and inorganic fertilizer on nitrate accumulation in the vegetables. Results showed that the significant yield differences of those two vegetables between these three organic fertilizer treatments which had identical N rate, indicated a strong suitability of different organic fertilizers to different vegetables. Nitrate content in the two vegetables was remarkably higher in the early growing stage. Nitrate content in the vegetable applied organic fertilizer only was not always lower than that using inorganic one. Rationally applying, no matter the organic or inorganic fertilizer, was essential to produce low-nitrate bearing vegetable. Rational application of organic fertilizer incorporated with the inorganic could not only improve yield but also reduce nitrate accumulation in the vegetable.